No Man's Land: Girl Power Is Dead

When I started working at SNOWBOARDER, I became the first female editor in the history of the magazine and the only one currently employed in our building, which includes Surfer, Skateboarder and Powder. Now, after a year on the clock, they decided to give me a column of my own. While my boss, Pat, kind of has man boobs and our photo editor, Muzzey, and I share the same cycle at times, they still decided I was the best candidate to write a snowboarding column from the women’s perspective.

I have babysat Vanessa Torres through two all-girl skate tours, endured Tara Dakides’ clinical ADD firsthand, been hospitalized by mono twice, survived Janna Meyen’s exploding ass in the tight confines of a compact car, broke my collarbone while jibbing the smallest park box ever and had a field hockey stick break my nose in six places; but making this column a reality is the scariest/most difficult/most potentially painful task I have ever set out to do. The last thing the female snowboarding community needs is another contrived “chicks rule” forum or, on the flip side, a cynical soapbox highlighting the tracks that have yet to be carved.

But for this to be a true outlet for women’s riding, the photos need to be there, or shall I say here. Ideally, we need a plethora of cutting-edge, credible action. Yet for the most part, the images don’t exist, at least not in the same massive quantities that the guys produce in a season’s work. This mystifies me because as a photographer, I know the demand for these photos is out there, and the cash, with corporate sponsors such as T-Mobile and Campbell’s Soup paying top dollar. The supply needs to meet this demand. Think junior-year economics.

A possible reason for the lack of editorial photos is that even when the epic shot does appear, it is a fight among sponsors over whom this diamond in the rough is granted. Some industry insiders estimate that 60 percent of a female pro’s print coverage comes from advertisements alone. The companies need to justify why said rider is getting paid and therefore rightfully claim the A-stock shots, leaving B- and C-grade photos to other sponsors and, finally, editorial. This is understandable—a girl’s got to make a living.

Simply having more shooters point their lenses at girls isn’t necessarily the answer either, though it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Pat Bridges feels that part of the problem is a lack of variety in what ends up on a roll. “Nine times out of ten, when five rookie girls hit a hip, you are going to see five methods,” he explains. “Then the one who goes the biggest with the most style gets the trick run. Sure, you’ll see a method or two with the guys, but you’ll also see airs to fakie, alley-oops, backside spins and a host of other tricks. More guys know how the game works.” Then there are the submissions that don’t include landing shots. We could take the “out of sight, out of mind” approach, but this policy rewards the less skilled and hurts those girls who did stick their tricks.

Despite this drought of photos, I am optimistic. Getting the column was the hard part, filling it will be a breeze. I’ve always wanted to convey the surreal experience of what it is like to be a female snowboarder. From the uncertain defeats and glorious victories of the contest circuit, to the trials and triumphs of film crews, to the women driven to succeed in our male-dominated industry, I have plenty of stories to tell. This is No Man’s Land.